vois

Veterinary Outbreak Investigation Service & Telepathology

VOIS

VOIS is UCVM’s Veterinary Outbreak Investigation Service. It is a service offered by UCVM to assist private veterinarians in Alberta in working up unusual animal health events, outbreaks of disease, loss of productivity, or situations in which human disease risk is an important component of the animal health event. These events do not include reportable or foreign animal diseases as they are investigated by the appropriate government authority. Assistance can be with diagnostics only (through the Diagnostic Services Unit, DSU) or with diagnostics and investigation assistance from UCVM veterinary specialists.

Outbreak investigations are important to inform treatment and management practices in a group of animals. In livestock, this is of particular importance for surveillance of animal disease, protection of public health, food safety, and improving animal health and welfare. Outbreaks worked up by VOIS also contribute to educational material for veterinary students.

VOIS only accepts investigation requests from licensed, practicing veterinarians or government agencies in Alberta and will always work with the requesting veterinarian throughout the entire investigation. To request assistance, fill out the request form here, and submit the completed PDF to VOIS@ucalgary.ca. Approval for investigation assistance is done on a case-by-case basis and assistance from UCVM faculty is dependent upon faculty availability. While VOIS will occasionally visit farms in an investigation, in most cases we rely on the primary veterinarian to collect and submit diagnostic samples.

Telepathology

The DSU offers a telepathology service for production animal and equine clients. Telepathology is pathology interpretation performed at a distance. In 2022 to 2023, the Diagnostic Services Unit (DSU) conducted a study on real-time pathologist-assisted field postmortem examinations of beef cattle. In the study, a DSU pathologist virtually joined a veterinarian on-farm performing a field necropsy via video call. This allowed the pathologist to see the necropsy in real-time prior to receiving the tissues as a field necropsy submission to the DSU. Additionally, the attending veterinarian could consult in real-time with the pathologist regarding the case. The telepathology consult includes a telepathology video call with a DSU pathologist during a field necropsy and the standard DSU field necropsy charge.

The DSU offers a telepathology service for production animal and equine clients. Production animals include large and small ruminants, poultry - including small flocks, swine, and alternative livestock - farmed elk, deer, and bison. We will be using the established veterinary telemedicine platform OttoVet to facilitate scheduling and video calls. 

Requests for appointments will only be accepted from licensed veterinarians/veterinary clinics and a licensed veterinarian must be the one performing the field necropsy during the call. 

The telepathology consult fee will include the telepathology video call with a DSU pathologist during a field necropsy and the standard DSU field necropsy charge. It is expected that the veterinarian will submit tissue samples to the DSU following the field necropsy. The pathologist will not make a diagnosis until after they have reviewed the histology and ancillary test results from the field necropsy.

Please call the main DSU office number (403-220-2806) with a requested date and time for a telepathology consult. The following information will be required:

  1. Clinic and veterinarian name
  2. Cell phone number and/or email address that will be accessible at the field necropsy location (a cell phone with texting capabilities is the easiest way to connect to the Otto video call)
  3. Farm/owner name
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